Navy cites lessons from shipyard USS Miami fire

New safety manual references arson

KITTERY, Maine — The U.S. Navy has released a new fire safety and prevention manual, part of which is based of what officials are calling "lessons learned" from an arson fire on board the USS Miami submarine at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 2012.

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By Charles McMahon

seacoastonline.com

By Charles McMahon

Posted Feb. 12, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Charles McMahon

Posted Feb. 12, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

KITTERY, Maine — The U.S. Navy has released a new fire safety and prevention manual, part of which is based of what officials are calling "lessons learned" from an arson fire on board the USS Miami submarine at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 2012.

Naval Sea Systems Command on Feb. 6 released the new manual, which is designed for all ship repair and construction activities and integrates existing shipboard fire safety requirements with lessons learned from the major fire that occurred aboard the Miami. The blaze on May 23, 2012, came after shipyard worker Casey Fury set a small fire on a bunk aboard the submarine, in hopes of leaving work early. Fury was expecting it would be easily contained, but instead the fire turned into a 10-hour conflagration that took more than 100 firefighters to extinguish.

Fury pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced last year in federal court to 17 years, 1 month in federal prison. The fire ended up causing $450 million in damage to the submarine, which the Navy ultimately decided not to repair.

The recently released manual requires the installation of a temporary automatic fire detection system when employees work on submarines. It also requires employees working on ship repair and construction activity to perform an annual fire drill to test its full fire response plan and emergency response capability.

"This manual is the right long-term response to the watershed event the Miami fire represents," said Vice Adm. William Hilarides, NAVSEA commander. "It is imperative that all organizations implement the applicable requirements of this manual and ensure their fire safety and response procedures and capabilities are solid."